Thursday, 5 February 2015

The iCandy Raspberry Review

Back in
September 2013 I attended the iCandy 80th Birthday Bash, and it was
here that the new iCandy Raspberry was unveiled to me. For me it was love at
first sight, from the smooth contours of the frame, right through to the
delicious selection of flavours on offer:

-Arctic
Night

-Atlantic

-Lush

-Beetle

-Sunflower

-Wisteria

-Fushia

I was
instantly drawn to the beautifully bright
Sunflower Yellow, that paired with a black chassis certainly boasts the
WOW factor for it’s stand out vibrance between the colour combinations, and is
certain to turn some heads. Following the release of the Raspberry in the fall
of 2014, Leo and I were given the opportunity to truly put the Raspberry
through its paces, and obviously we were very excited to do so, especially when
it was confirmed that the colour way I had fallen in love with was available!

The iCandy Raspberry was set to be Leo’s very final pushchair review (insert sobs and
crocodile tears here!) and it was actually because of Leo’s size and age (He
was just turned 3 when we started using the Raspberry) that we were asked to
get involved with this particular review. Leo’s a tall 3 year old and we wanted
to see how the Raspberry would fare with the top end of babyhood. So now after
using the Raspberry for a good couple of months, I am happy to share our
personal experience using the iCandy Raspberry.

What’s in the box?

The iCandy
Raspberry arrived in 2 boxes, one for the pushchair and another to accommodate
the Flavour Pack. In each of the boxes you will find:

iCandy Raspberry Box

-Chassis

-Wheels

-Rain
cover

-Instruction
Manual

iCandy Flavour Pack (Sold Separately)

-Raspberry
Hood

-5
Point harness Pads

We also
received the Raspberry footmuff
along with our pushchair and this is lovely quality, so snug and designed to
keep your little ones toasty warm. Leo is a getting a little too big for the
footmuff but we have been able to make use of it with the Raspberry in the
chill of the winter days that have been looming over us. Leo was especially
pleased with the hand pockets available for him to hide his hands away from the
icy chill, and although we cannot do the zip all the way up, it did help keep
Leo cozy while we have been exposed to the elements. The iCandy Raspberry
Footmuff retails at £90.00 and comes separately to the initial price of the
pushchair.

Assembling the Raspberry

Assembling
the Raspberry is a simple task that doesn’t take very long at all, it was just
a case of putting the seat unit onto the chassis and attaching the Sunflower
Flavour Pack, consisting of the hood and strap covers, and then opening the
pushchair out for the first time. Granted this is where I struggled, I spent
much longer trying to put the Raspberry up than I did actually putting it
together. You can read more on this in the next section of this review.

Putting the Raspberry Up & Down

It has been
said that I am not one to read an instruction manual unless I really have to,
and I admittedly spent the first half hour quite simply working out how to put
the Raspberry up... Then when it became apparent that I didn’t have the
foggiest idea about what I was doing, I decided to read the instructions and
even log online to have a look at the instruction videos. Only to discover that
I still couldn’t do it. Of course it turns out I had been going about it all
the wrong way, and actually it’s very simple to do.

To put the Raspberry up you simply need to open it out, and to put the Raspberry back down again at the end of play, you just need to squeeze the button on the left hand side and push down on the handlebar. It will then collapse in.

The fold of the Raspberry is compact and folds in such a way that keeps the wheels away from the seat, so that when the wheels get muddy (which they will!) you don't have to worry about getting the seat dirty. This for me is a real bonus, as I am so precious about these things!

First Impression

With the
Raspberry complete and standing before me I remembered exactly why I had loved
it so much at that first introduction, it’s sleek contoured shape and it’s
stand out colour way drew me in all over again, and to say I was a little bit
excited about getting it on the road for the first time was a understatement.

The
Raspberry is a very solid pushchair and I like this, it’s comforting knowing
that Leo is secure in his transportation and I don’t have to worry about it
tipping or falling backwards. I am one of those parents who do store their
changing bags on the back of my pushchairs (Only if I am confident in the
weight ratio between bag and pushchair) and it really would take a lot to make
it fall.

Before I
could do anything with my new set of wheels I had to adjust the straps in order
to be able to sit Leo. This was an easy enough job and I had soon lengthened
the straps to the limit and sat Leo in the helm of the seat. I noticed straight
away that Leo was at the very top end of the seat unit and the straps were
rather tight on him. This meant that I wouldn’t be able to put Leo in a thick
winter coat over the colder months ahead of us while using the Raspberry. Aside
from that though Leo looked comfortable in the seat and he absolutely loved the
colour and told everyone it was ‘My new pushchair!’.

Our first
trip out with the Raspberry was a walk into town, the weather had been trying
to thwart our attempt with rain, but I was adamant that we were going to give
this pushchair a road test imminently. It’s about a 15 minute walk into our
local town, and one I always enjoy and having the Raspberry at arm’s length
certainly made this experience more inviting.

The Push

This is
always an important aspect when it comes to a pushchair, how does it handle?
The Raspberry is lovely to push, and having tried it with both Leo and my
nephew over the past couple of months I am over all happy with it. Granted
there is a noticeable difference between pushing my just 2 year old nephew in
it and pushing Leo, but I think that is to be expected. When pushing Leo solely
In the Raspberry it does feel a bit heavy at times, this is most noticeable
when walking along an uneven surface where I do have to direct it more to be
able to keep going in the right directon.

The Wheels

Up until
using the Raspberry I did use a pushchair with air filled tires and this has
accustomed me to just being able to bump up curbs, with the Raspberry you do
have to tilt it back and lift it up the curbs as it does seem to struggle with
the bigger lips you find when mounting the pavement. I have found that it is
quite a tricky pushchair to tilt in order to do this because of how the weight
seems to be distributed, but as I said earlier the Raspberry is a solid
pushchair and I am happy in the knowledge that it isn’t particularly easy to tip!

The wheels
themselves are completely different to anything I have used before, they are
made out of a plastic type material and are ideal for nipping around the town
centre or shopping precinct. The Raspberry has been designed as an urban
pushchair for those living in the town or city, to aid their urban lives. The
wheels are ideal for urban terrain and they even handled the grass in our local
park rather well considering the overall size of them.

The Basket

The basket
is a feature of the Raspberry that I quite simply just love, it’s spacious and
accessible which makes it really useful and incredibly practical. It makes
shopping a breeze as you can store so much in the basket space. I can fit my
much adored Emilia Changing bag in the bottom along with a coat and shoes for
Leo and even my camera tripod should I need to, and I can take absolutely
everything for Leo without having to worry about taking a bag. I think for people who rely very heavily on a
pushchair in the absence of a car, this basket would be perfect for nipping to
the shops and getting the essentials and being able to conveniently transport
it all home.

My
favourite feature for the basket has to be the hidden storage compartment built
into the body of the pushchair. This is where the rain cover is stored so that
you can always keep it with you and not take up valuable basket room (Well done
iCandy!). It is also a great place to store your valuables such as your phone
or wallet, items that you may not want to entrust solely to your basket.

The Hood

Now the hood on the Raspberry could be comparable to marmite, you are either going to love it or hate it. Personally, I really like it. It's unlike anything else I have ever come across and I quite simply love the soft material that has been used. It's a very generous size and can completely cover Leo when it comes to saving his eyes from the low sunshine at this time of year. It doesn't handle the rain very well, but I always have the rain cover to hand just to be on the safe side.

Living with the Raspberry

We have
been living with the Raspberry since mid-September and over the months it has
certainly been well used. I do a lot of walking from my home into the local
town centre, and with it being too far for Leo to walk, I always pop him in the
Raspberry for the journey in. Usually when we arrive he will get out and walk
around, but I like to know that we have the pushchair on hand for when he
starts to get tired, or more usually…Mischievous!

I find that
the Raspberry boasts many positive features that have made using it a real
pleasure, but there are a few points that I have noticed over the course of our
time using the Raspberry.

Seat Size – Having an older child who is still in and
out of a pushchair, I noticed straight away that the Raspberry seat was not as
big as we are used to. Leo fills the seat in both directions, but still sits
comfortably inside. The biggest realization about the seat unit is the 5 point
harness, before our first trip with the Raspberry I extended the harness to its
maximum sizing, and still this is tight on Leo. This has meant that he cannot
wear a winter coat while he is in it because it quite simply won’t do up.
Obviously Leo is at the very top end of the scale at 3 and half, and he is big
for his age. My nephew Josh sits beautifully in it and he is an average size 2
year old, so aside from the harness maybe benefiting from having a bit more
leeway we are very pleased with the seat unit.

When we first
started using the Raspberry it took me a while to adjust to how low down the
seat unit was, but 3 months on it is just something we have become accustomed
to. In those early days I did feel that Leo was really low down to the floor
and that the handle felt quite long even on the shorter extension, but Leo never minded, he was far too busy
pointing out the world as we strolled past turning many head’s with the
Raspberry’s flush design and striking colour way.

The brake
system on the Raspberry is another aspect that I like, it’s a simple flick on,
flick off using your foot, a very simple feature that is yet another luxury for
a busy Mum. The only not so great aspect about the brake that I have found is
that it is rather low to the ground, and when I take big steps I occasionally
find myself catching it with my feet.

Overall…What did we think?

Over all I
like how the Raspberry handles and will definitely be keeping it around for
baby number 2 (One day!). I love how the Raspberry looks, and I like how it
handles itself in the urban setting. Living in a small town it has been ideal
to take out and about with us on our strolls into the centre and then of course
down to the local park for a play on the swings and to feed the ducks. We
haven’t used the Raspberry on public transport at present as I drive and the
occasion hasn’t called for it, so I cannot comment on how the Raspberry would
be in those instances, but for our needs, and the location we live in, the
Raspberry has been ideal.

I don’t
think it will be long now before Leo completely outgrows it (he is now 3 and a
half) so the Raspberry can accommodate older children, but it has been a bit of
a squeeze what with the five point harness. If you are interested in the
Raspberry I always recommend finding a local place to go and test drive one for
yourself, just to give you an idea of exactly what you need, and to get an idea
of what it is like to use. Of course if you have any questions, I am happy to
help where I can. The Raspberry will most certainly be used again when (not if)
baby number 2 makes an appearance!

The iCandy Raspberry retails at £420.00 and is available to buy directly from iCandy.

Disclaimer:
I was sent the iCandy Raspberry for the purpose of this review. All views and
opinions expressed are completely honest and my own.

5 comments:

There is so much to think about when buying a pram and I read reviews, such as this one you just wrote on the iCandy, and many others pram buying guides and reviews before I finally decided to buy the Bugaboo Bee.

Last year I decided to write my own pram buying guide as well and it would be great to hear your thoughts – http://busycitymum.com/how-to-choose-baby-pram/

THANKYOU so much for this review! its nice to see an honest assessment from someone who has experience using the pushchair! I have been looking at the iCandy store as i love the look of their pushchairs!! This review has definitely helped me make my decision, I shall be purchasing a Raspberry for sure! Thanks for again, im so glad to hear its easy to assemble. take care!

I certainlly agree with this review, for me this pushchair has been a life saver! with my first pushchair i went for a cheaper one as i didnt see the big deal, but after 6 months i regretted my decison with it being hard to steer and a nightmare when town was busy!!! i then decided to google for high end pushchairs and saw the icandy brand, the raspberry is sooooooo good, its lightweight and steers so easy, busy towns are no longer something i fear! i like the colours aswell, adds a degree of personalisation, yes they may be a bit more high end, but beleive me there is nothing worse than getting a pushchair and finding it impossible to use. you pay for what you get, and the raspberry is very very good!

also its free standing when folded so it tucks away nicely :) hope this helped

Hi, I've had a Raspberry since Sept last year and can't rate it highly enough, we are still in our first year but it's great to know that a 3 and half year old can fit in the seat too. The detail above will help mums choose as it's impossible to think of all the questions that really matter, especially first time around and the choice in stores is just bewildering now. We have to travel a lot so we know taking this buggy through airports, with transit buses and trains is really easy. So far it's been strong enough to cope with half a dozen flights without any problems.

Thank you so much for your review, it was one of several I read before purchasing my Raspberry and I found it really helpful - like a lot of the other posters I found the amount of choice overwhelming but new what I was looking for: small, easy to push and fold but also sturdy as I intend to use it for as long as my daughter needs it, your review answered my questions and more and I'm so happy I went with the Raspberry in the end, highly recommended.